First, I need to say that I have been using FileTargets for a few weeks, quite happily. So I do appreciate that this application has been made available as freeware.

But today, I made a small change to a WinXP directory name, which broke many of my FileTargets shortcuts.

Unlike WinXP, FileTargets does not appear capable of rewriting the paths itself or recognizing that a directory's name has changed. This is a disappointing, but not terribly surprising.

So I opened the FileTargets window, all prepared to edit the broken folder paths by pasting the correct information over parts of the old paths in FileTargets....

To my surprise, I cannot even find a way to edit the existing paths. It seems that I have to create new folder shortcuts in FileTargets, and delete all the old broken ones. Did I miss something here? If so, let me know how to do this. Otherwise, I gotta admit, I'm terribly disappointed.

Clearly, it's possible to script a WinXP program like this so it is self-correcting when Windows directories are renamed, or paths otherwise change. And it's always been possible to script such a program so that configuration info entered by the user can be edited later by the same user.

Therefore, I am wondering: are there are plans to update FileTargets so it is up to the standards of other Windows XP applications (freeware or not)?

If not, is the source code available so that others can update FileTargets?

Call me communist, but I think any freeware that that clearly needs some improvements should be open-source if the developer is not making these improvements in a timely fashion.

And, from the capitalist perspective, I would certainly think any developer who's selling software and offering freeware would ensure that this freeware -- however simple it might be -- boasts all the skill and thoughtfulness of the development team. In short, if you want to sell as much software as possible, you ought to maintain your freeware so nobody ever finds it lacking.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. But my work habits have already come to depend upon FileTargets -- and if knew FileTargets had such a significant shortcoming, then I would have thought twice about adding it to my system.

FileTargets is definitely the most promising of the "Send-To" shell apps I've ever tried. Otherwise I would not have taken the time or effort to write all this.

So I do hope that Moon Software will take the time and effort to improve FileTargets. Then I can really say with pride to my friends and family that ILikeMoonSoftware!

SteveResearcher

2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)

Daniel Beardsmore

Posted - 16 November 2008 : 16:34:04

quote:Originally posted by SKayClearly, it's possible to script a WinXP program like this so it is self-correcting when Windows directories are renamed, or paths otherwise change...

Is it? On a Macintosh, this service is built into the kernel (since the file system works on UIDs), but Windows is a lot more shifty. I've seen clear evidence that, when it wants to, Windows is able to track changes to a shortcut, but I don't know how. I've also seen Windows perform quite weird things to shortcuts, turning C:\... shortcuts into \\THISPC\... shortcuts at random for no reason.

And yes, personally I do feel that any software not intended to be maintained should be released as open source, and preferably made open source long before this point such that the death or otherwise sudden disappearance of the developer doesn't necessarily equate the death of the application! I am sure that the app will die anyway, but at least you can't blame the original developer for keeping it secret ;)

Ahto/Moon Software

Posted - 08 June 2007 : 12:29:30

quote:Clearly, it's possible to script a WinXP program like this so it is self-correcting when Windows directories are renamed, or paths otherwise change.

Of course it is possible to make a program to do thousands of things, but is it worth it? Folder monitoring requires some program always running and consuming your computer resources -- I find it not necessary. I like to keep thing simple.

quote:And it's always been possible to script such a program so that configuration info entered by the user can be edited later by the same user.

Yes and that may be included in a future version, if one will be released.